Men's Hockey Drops Hard Fought Series Opener at No. 12 Ohio State, 4-3Men's Hockey Drops Hard Fought Series Opener at No. 12 Ohio State, 4-3

Men's Hockey Drops Hard Fought Series Opener at No. 12 Ohio State, 4-3

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Penn State and No. 12 Ohio State combined for five third period goals with the Buckeyes holding on for the 4-3 victory in the opening game of the B1G quarterfinal best-of-three series on Friday evening inside Value City Arena.

The Buckeyes snap a four-game losing skid and improve to 22-11-2 on the year and have a chance to sweep the series and advance to the Big Ten semifinals next weekend following the victory while Penn State drops to 15-19-1 this season with the setback.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • After a scoreless opening period, Ohio State opened the scoring late in the second frame as CJ Regula flipped a pass over the Nittany Lion defense connecting with Georgii Merkulov at the blueline and he raced in on a breakaway beating PSU sophomore net-minder Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) past the blocker for the 1-0 edge at the 16:00 mark.
  • Just 1:13 later Eric Cooley redirected a Patrick Guzzo shot past Souliere for the 2-0 margin at 17:13 of the middle stanza.
  • The Buckeyes extended the lead early in the third period as Quinn Preston finished a breakaway after a perfect stretch pass from Cam Thiesing up the middle for the ice for the 3-0 score at the 2:19 mark.
  • The Nittany Lions spoiled the shutout bid midway through the third period scoring twice in just over two minutes as sophomore Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) and junior Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) each sniped far-side past the glove of Buckeye goaltender Jakub Dobes at 7:53 and 9:56, respectively, for the 3-2 score.
  • Ohio State regained the two-goal lead with another breakaway tally as Merkulov potted his second of the game for the 4-2 lead at the 16:52 mark.
  • Just 18 seconds later, Penn State cut the deficit to a single goal again as junior Kenny Johnson (Ann Arbor, Mich.) tallied his first collegiate goal finishing into a yawning net off a feed from classmate Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) for the 4-3 score at the 17:10 mark.

GOALTENDING
Souliere drops to 5-6-1 on the year after making 27 saves on the night while Dobes improves to 21-10-2 after stopping 49-of-52 shots he faced.

NOTES

  • Penn State held the commanding 52-31 edge in shots on goal including the commanding 20-9 margin in the third period.
  • The Nittany Lions went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, but were 0-for-3 with the man-advantage.
  • Penn State controlled the dot winning 44-of-77 faceoffs (57.1 percent).
  • Along with his first career goal, Johnson registered an assist to secure his first career multi-point game.

NEXT UP
The two teams return to the Schott tomorrow night for another 7 p.m. puck drop in game two of the Big ten quarterfinals.

For more information on the 2021-22 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.